Drinking a green juice right before praying or meditating is like taking steroids and then lifting weights.

Hear me know, and believe me later… green juices will PUMP…YOU UP!

It will PUMP UP your spiritual connectivity by keeping your mind and body relaxed, while increasing your ability to concentrate.

This happens because the liquid jolt of veggie nutrients is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. The green boost then stimulates the brain, creating heightened mental sharpness and sensitivity, without the racing heart and hyperactivity associated with caffeine.

Pounding a green juice prior to meditating helps me keep my mind from wandering and remain in the present moment longer, which is the only place to experience God. I am able to more easily dive into deeper states of consciousness, and sense subtle vibrations throughout my body. I’ve also noticed that I experience more intense sensations and connectivity in my 3rd eye and crown chakra regions after downing a Mean Green Juice.

Green juices, along with an alkaline diet, help decalcify the pineal gland and awaken your 3rd eye. Unleash the spiritual Stefan Urquel within you!

Life never functions in a predictable linear path. However when fear kicks in, the ego will use its logic to try to keep you permanently down with “proof” that life will always be the way it is now.

The ego has no real grasp of how our future will unfold. This is because what the mind knows, only comes from the data it has accumulated up until now. It can only pull from this information and is constantly creating projections of the future based on past patterns. Much like a corporation forecasting earnings for the next 10 years, the ego will also create a perfectly linear projection. But life never works in this way. Life is mysterious, and it is the unknown that allows for progress to occur exponentially. Good examples of this are the thousands of rags to riches tales such as Oprah, J.K. Rowling, Steve Jobs etc.

The heart on the other hand communicates with all of existence, as our eternal souls are tied to the eternal God/Infinite Intelligence/All That Is. Being connected to All That Is, our intuitive guide has infinite organizing power. It has the higher view to bring forth what we desire in the timing that is necessary to facilitate the challenges and growth we must experience. The heart always knows where we must go next to progress along our path. Learning its language and then committing to always saying Yes to its call will lead to fulfillment and a magical unfolding of life. Read the rest of this entry »

When dealing with emotional pain, we tend to teeter from blaming others to self-blame. We tell ourselves things like “Why was I so dumb to let that happen?” “Why did/didn’t I do that?” “What’s wrong with me?!”

Every experience with failure, whether from work or relationships, creates vulnerability to negative self-talk. Failures are failed expectations. Expectations arise from having a personal attachment to the outcome. So, when things don’t turn out the way that we want, it becomes easy to start crushing our self-worth and doubting ourselves.

Only self-love can shield you from a stream of self-hating thoughts. Even if you are showered with abundant love and support from others during your time of need, the strength of your self-esteem still comes down to what you belief about yourself. The greater the self-love you possess, the more you will be unfazed by the difficulties life throws at you.

Self-love is a knowingness, meaning that you know and accept the totality of who you are. Unconditional self-love leads to an oneness with yourself, allowing you to be authentically you. To have knowingness of oneself eliminates doubt. Doubt is the small hole in the protective wall of your mind that allows negativity to enter and establish permanent residence there. Read the rest of this entry »

We have been conditioned to believe that tears and sadness is a sign of weakness. Men are taught to not show emotions, and thus when these “weak” emotions appear, the natural instinct is to try to ignore or suppress it at all costs.

This is a huge flaw in how we learned to treat ourselves. This is because suppressing emotion is the denial of emotion. A denial of emotion is the denial of reality, because emotions only exist in the present moment. Read the rest of this entry »

To accept reality as it is means to be 100% tolerant of how things are, good or bad, without judgment or the desire for it to be any other way. Judgment of your current reality creates separation from it, because you are condemning it as bad and unacceptable. Judgment also creates resistance. Hating how things are and wondering why it isn’t a different way prevents you from living in the present, because you are fighting against the truth of now. Fully accepting reality, no matter how painful facing your fear may be, will give you the mental clarity and emotional strength to grow and move on.

I’ve found meditation to be a very powerful healing tool here. When you can get yourself into a deeper state of consciousness, you can begin to experience the more subtle sensations of your body and discover where the roots of your pain lie. Our minds like to exaggerate things through imagination. If we have pain, it will blow it up to be bigger than it actually is, adding mentally created pain to the initially independent physical sensations of pain. We can greatly reduce the suffering that we experience by isolating the self-created psychological pain from the physical.

They say that it takes at least a year to heal from serious heartbreak.

I’ve found this to be true… but only initially.

Recovering from my first long-term relationship was rough. Like most people suffering from heartbreak, I carelessly allowed my imagination to spiral out of control. My mind would create hurtful thoughts that were never based on facts, but on pure speculation. For example, if a picture of the ex with some new guy popped up on Facebook, my mind would instantly trigger jealous thoughts and begin to dream up scenarios of what could have been going on behind my back. Life loses its magic when your own mind starts cutting you down.

Our minds truly are double-edged swords. During happy times, it will make you believe that you’re an invincible king, but when disappointment shows up, it will backstab you with doubt, unnecessary suffering and self-hatred. Clearly, our minds are not always acting in our best interest, so it’s a good idea to not attach your identity to it. The good news is that we are not at the mercy of our minds, but rather, it is at the mercy of our will and attention. We are always free to let go of old, destructive belief systems and replace them with positive ones that will help us grow. Although most people operate on thought-autopilot, we are actually in full control because only we can choose where we place our mind’s focus. Our minds can only create painful thoughts and a negative reality when we give it the fuel and permission to do so. Read the rest of this entry »

We live with an illusion of linear time. However in reality, we are actually evolving within the continuously unfolding present moment, where all life and the experience of life take place.

The only aspect of time that exists is this eternal now.

When our minds wander to the past or the future, we are fleeing the true reality of the present moment and escaping to a false one of our own misperception. We cannot find God there. God only resides in the present moment because the present is the only “place” that is real. Consciously returning to the present moment as often as possible is the first step in truly experiencing life and being able to experience God in our lives. Read the rest of this entry »

The thoughts we choose to think, lead to the emotions we end up feeling.

We have a choice. We can either allow our thoughts and feelings to be at the mercy of external events and influences, or decide to create the experience that we would rather have.

Our imaginations have the power to transform a thought into physical experience. A good example of this is the self-created fear kids experience from being afraid of their own imaginings.

As a kid I loved watching shows like Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted (you gotta love the ’90s). The only problem was that when the show was over, the stories I had just watched would linger in my mind. It also didn’t help to be sitting home alone in the dark, next to a large unlocked sliding door with the curtains drawn. A prime setting for a horror film. Read the rest of this entry »

I use Pandora all day long. One of my favorite stations for relaxing and refocusing is the Deepak Chopra “Heart Meditations” station.

Tracks from his cd offer short meditations and affirmations that instruct how to live a more peaceful and harmonious life. By stopping and attentively internalizing his messages, I’ve found it to be very helpful in providing refuge from any current negative thoughts.

The rest of the artists in the radio collection also have generally soothing/nature pieces. I particularly enjoy Aeoliah’s angelic sounding music.

The mind communicates to us through thoughts, the soul through emotions.

Emotions are important to pay attention to because they are continuously giving us feedback on where we presently stand in relation to the path towards the desires stored deep within our hearts.

When we participate in actions that are harmful to others or ourselves, or even entertain negative thoughts, our feelings will let us know that such thoughts and actions are not harmonious with our true self. Our soul/conscience will cry out in protest and we will suffer the longer we ignore its call back towards a life of joy and peace. We may feel guilt, shame, frustration, anxiety, depression etc. Additionally, the emotional suffering often coincides with physical suffering through stress and discomfort throughout the body. Whatever the feeling, the soul’s message is clear: it does not feel good, and as a result, life becomes difficult.

However, when we fully engage in actions or hold onto hopeful thoughts to progress us towards our goals and dreams, we feel a sense of satisfaction, feel full of energy and physically feel lighter. When we are in this positive flow, life feels effortless and clear.

Nature serves as the ultimate reminder of how we should strive to live our lives – in abundance, in harmony, and in an effortless flow with our own inner nature and our deepest desires. Through the observation of our natural surroundings, we can witness the perfect execution of the Law of Nature. Every living thing is “programmed” to do what it was meant to do, and yet unlike robots, they still operate within a framework of freedom to maximize its own well-being. A plant born into a space with minimal sunlight will automatically position itself to absorb as much light as possible in order to survive. A majestic redwood will continue to grow to its maximum height, and then… just be. A starving wolf will continue hunting for food with unshakable determination and optimism until it collapses and dies from hunger.

I search for God in nature. I delight in its boundless beauty and in the observation of the endless cycle of death and rebirth. Through nature I am able to marvel at the perfection of the world, personally believing that none of this could possibly be the result of pure randomness. This observation rekindles my awareness of both my connectivity to all living things and my belief in the perfection of my life and the lives of every human who has ever lived.

Personally, I prefer finding a secluded area to explore so that I am able to truly immerse myself within my environment. I love wandering alone while releasing my thoughts as I take my focus away from my rapid mind and all of its anxiety, and place it on the tranquility of the surrounding beauty. As I walk, I focus on walking mindfully. I take deep breaths of the clean air, and smell the fragrance of the trees or the saltiness of the ocean breeze.

To walk mindfully, you want to awaken your senses to feel and pay attention to everything going on. Notice the sensation you feel in your feet as you walk on the dirt trail, pay attention to your breath and the freshness you feel as you breathe deeply. As you are able to dive deeper into your own awareness, you can pay attention to your heartbeat by mentally placing your focus there. Pay particular attention to how it responds to the increase in physical activity, and if your heart sings as you smell a flower or follow the path of a bird in flight.

I am a man of faith. I was raised Catholic and while I continue to follow my religion through church and prayer, it is my opinion that there is no one be-all-end-all religion. To me, all real religions that are based with the foundation of love, compassion, and morality, are just different translations and approaches to point people in the right direction. We are all trying to find meaning in life and to seek the Truth of this world we live in.

I use religion as a guide and a tool to keep me focused on pursuing a greater understanding of God. Spirituality in my opinion should be a very intimate and personal experience. It is a quest to find direction and to establish a relationship and communication with a higher power.

Over the past four years I have been drawn to the teachings of various spiritual and thought leaders. While studying these philosophies and spiritual texts were thought provoking and made sense to me intellectually, I did not understand or experience what they were preaching until I was able to silence my mind and look within through Vipassana meditation. I went to Yosemite to attend a 10-day Vipassana meditation course and returned slightly awakened.

Since that time I have practiced meditation and prayer regularly and have gained more clarity into who I am and what I want from life. As a result, my life has been magical with countless blessings and fortunate “coincidences” to help me along my path. It has made me a believer in the power of having clearly defined goals/dreams and backing it up with 100% faith. I have been focusing my energy on the dreams in my heart and have been acting upon inspired thought. This blog is one example.